Dana White Plans Three More Title Bouts On ‘Fight Island’
UFC president Dana White is planning to bring three more title fights to Abu Dhabi which he has labelled “the new fight capital of the world”. The UFC boss set up shop on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi amid the ongoing global pandemic. He intends to revisit the country and continue putting on the biggest and best MMA fights in the middle east for the foreseeable future.
Speaking to The National White revealed all of the “baddest” UFC fights will take place on ‘Fight Island’ which is the new home of MMA, he said.
“The shows that we bring here, this is the only international destination for fights. So all the biggest and the baddest fights coming up that we have are going to be here.
“If you look at our roster of champions, they’re from all over the world. So the biggest, baddest fights over the next God knows how long are going to be here in Abu Dhabi. That’s why I’m saying Abu Dhabi is going to be looked at as the new fight capital of the world. It used to be Las Vegas. It definitely isn’t Las Vegas right now.”
The UFC will return to the country in October with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Israel Adesanya and Weili Zhang all expected to defend their belts, White said.
“Khabib will be the next. We’re talking about [middleweight champion] Israel Adesanya versus Paulo Costa, that fight happening. [Women’s strawweight champion] Weili Zhang versus Rose Namajunas is a possibility. All the massive, big fights with literally the champion versus the No 1 contender are all looking like Fight Island Abu Dhabi.”
White is proud to have made history by putting on a series of fights during a global pandemic, he said.
“[Fight Island] was our Thrilla in Manila, Rumble in the Jungle. Where the place that the fight was was as big or bigger of a star as everybody that was fighting on the card. So we made history here.
“That octagon on the beach should sit there for ever; that should be something that fight fans come and see for ever. We’re talking about doing International Fight Week here now on Fight Island and having all these different events here the week of the fight. And we’re thinking about all these different things now that we can do, that would be a yearly event.
“I know for a fact that I’ve never done anything harder than this. I don’t know if there’ll ever be anything that we’ve accomplished in almost 20 years of doing this that was bigger than what we’ve done here.”
Do you think Dana White should make Abu Dhabi the new home of MMA?
